In official news: I have the best boyfriend ever

So I'm sure you remember this post, where I detail my journey to find the Wet n Wild Spring Forward Nude Awakening palette. 

Well, my wonderful, fabulous, thoughtful boyfriend went behind my back and ordered it online once we couldn't find it in person!! 

He just surprised me with it!! I am basically jumping for joy and of course I already swatched it!

I was definitely impressed with the texture of these- so silky! I was a bit put off at first by the pigmentation, it came off a little chalky at first. But once I blended it just a little bit, it evened itself out! 

I can't wait to bring you some looks featuring these great eyeshadows!!

The top row is the right side, and the bottom row is the right side. Because I like to do things backwards like that. (no, really, I was too excited to give a damn)

As you can see the white-ish one did NOT show up on my forearm whatsoever. Hopefully it shows up a little better on my eyelids! 

Excuse my nails, I was literally in the middle of redoing them when my boyfriend came in with this surprise!

As you can probably tell, I'm a LITTLE BIT stoked on this. Can't wait to try it out and see what kind of fun looks I can come up with!!

Follow your bliss,

Ember Darling

p.s. not to rain on this parade, but it's funny that I already decided to take the plunge and buy UD Naked. However with this I am going to take a second thought and maybe buy Naked 2 instead. We'll see! :) Now I have a dupe to last me for the time being -- which is good, because I am broke!

Ulta & Dollar Tree Haul!

If you're addicted to beauty products *ahem, CHEAP beauty products* and haven't been down to your local Dollar Tree lately...you're messin' up!!

I used to think that Dollar Tree makeup had to be trashy and cheap, right? WRONG! They now have brands that might sound mighty familiar to you! such as Sally Hanson, Sinful Colors, NYC, ELF, Revlon, and Milani!

Here's some pictures of what I picked up on my latest trip to Clearwater Mall, which has an Ulta and Dollar Tree right next door to each other! The best part about the Dollar Tree is that since everything is so cheap, you can buy shades that you might not normally purchase or try. That's what I did! 

 First up, Ulta haul

I finally got my hands on the Nyx Jumbo eye pencil in Milk. This is a product that most consider a mainstay in their collection. It's versatile, it's cheap, it's high quality- what more could you ask for?

I got two shades of the Nyx matte lip creams. I have heard many good things about these so I was so excited to snap them up! The one on the left is Amsterdam. I unfortunately don't know the name of the one on the right. I tried it on and it was more nude than I expected, and I gave it away to a friend.

From the dollar store: One weird thing about the dollar store is that all the makeup is packaged- even the makeup that isn't normally in a package. It's strange but what can ya do?

elf brightening eye color

baby wipes! No, I don't have a baby. These things are vastly underrated as far as makeup removing/touchups go. And for only a buck, I couldn't resist.

from L to R: Rose in Your Nose, Bonjour, My Day

Can't wait to try these out! Reviews coming soon! :)

Blue By, Orange Impulse

Gone Platinum, Ciao Bella, Cream Pink

I am SO pleased with Ciao Bella. I hate buying dark sapphire colors because they almost always turn out black. But this one is definitely blue on the nail! I highly recommend it.

My two favorite finds were the Sinful Colors nail art polishes. These were discontinued and I've never seen them anywhere else before! But for only a buck you definitely can't go wrong. The other favorite find is Sally Hanson Insta-dri polishes. Word on the street is that these nail polishes ALWAYS work with stamping kits (which a friend of mine has that I use frequently) so I snatched up a few to use for that purpose!

I can't wait to use these products! 

What about you guys, have you found any gems at your local Dollar Tree lately? Are you going to go searching for some bargains now? Because you should! 

Follow your bliss,

Ember Darling

New favorite website!

Alright, Budget-splurgers. I will be the first to admit that I have a problem keeping up with my online presence. I would much rather be seen than heard, so many times! I come on the web and consume so much information and hardly ever put any new content out there.

Well enough is ENOUGH, I say! I'm going to get back into the swing of things. I am, I am, I am.

So my OFFICIAL first post (yes I have an unofficial first post. I typed it up completely and then left it in drafts. Oops. Clearly I am still getting into this "blogging" thing.) goes a little something like this:

Do you love Pinterest? Do you spend hours hounding the "hair & beauty" tag on Pinterest just to have it bombarded with things that are neither hair, nor beauty? (Lookin' at you, diet and exercise tips)

Well then you, my friend, are in the same boat as me. So you should be as excited as I am about this new website.

It's called Bellashoot, and it is ....well, freaking awesome.

It's like pinterest and beauty blogging had a perfect love child. It's set up similarly to pinterest,  where you can upload links, pictures, videos etc! But it's COMPLETELY dedicated to beauty!!
As if that wasn't enough, their Facebook is always giving away tons of beauty goodies! As a beauty on a budget, that is something I like to hear.
Uh HELLO beauty bloggers of the world, this is right up our alley!

My name on there is B-sbeautyEmber , so go find me and follow me!

This site is definitely in need of some fashionistas to lift it off the ground, so head your tails over there and get to postin'!!

Follow your bliss,
Ember Darling